William Rodney Herring

Greg wrote me the other day about "corporate grammar." Happily, he'd found "the iron-clad grammatical rules for talking about registered trademarks"! The "authority" in this case is Adobe, specifically the company's injunctions about Photoshop--prohibitions against verbing the title, abbreviating the title, or even using it in its possessive form.

Interestingly, a commenter (Prairieman) on Plastic's sidebar takes Adobe as a legitimate authority, even while noting how usage will always exceed prescriptions:

Read and have a chuckle. I mean, it is a really nice thought guys, but I think it is a little late to change the linguistic habits of the American people. Kind of like you're never supposed to say "ain't".

But the best thing about it is Adobe's rationale:

By following the below guidelines, you can help Adobe protect the Photoshop brand name.

Would that all claims to "proper usage" were so brazenly upfront about their interests.